New Vice President
2004 Dave Dobson announced new Vice President of Production/Winemaker
Indian Ocean Tsunami, caused by 9.0 magnitude earthquake, triggered deaths of 283,106 people in 11 countries.
Martha Stewart, diva of domesticity, begins 5-month prison term after being found guilty of four counts of obstruction of justice and lying to federal investigators.
Janet Jackson created a scandal during the Superbowl's half-time show by exposing her right breast in a "wardrobe malfunction."
Summer Olympics take place in Athens, Greece.
Former President Ronald Regan dies.
George Bush is elected for a 2nd term as U.S. President.
Kudos for Cab
Artesa's 1999 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is named among Wine Spectator's top 30 wines in the world for 2002.
Milton Berle, Waylon Jennings, Peggy Lee, Dudley Moore, and Howard K. Smith die.
Homeland Security evolves into cabinet post.
Euro bank notes and coins put into circulation in Europe.
Codorníu Expands
The Codorníu Group completes Septima Winery in Argentina and Legaris in Spain's Ribera del Duero, begins Nuviana in Aragon, and upgrades Cellers Scala Dei in Priorat.
George W. Bush inaugurated after Supreme Court ruling.
On 9/11, terrorists crash airliners into New York's World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.
U.S. forces attack and occupy Afghanistan.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman announce their divorce.
Reserves, More Reds
Artesa releases its first reserve Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc wines, its first two Merlots and two Cabernet Sauvignons.
George W. Bush and Al Gore run for president.
Hillary Clinton runs for the U.S. Senate.
Marion Jones, Maurice Green and Michael Johnson run for gold at the Sydney Olympics.
Artesa Launches
Codorníu Napa becomes Artesa Winery, which releases its first still wines to critical acclaim: two Chardonnays, three Pinot Noirs, and a Sauvignon Blanc.
Bill Clinton is impeached and acquitted.
Fatal shootings rock Columbine High School in Colorado.
World braces for anticipated Y2K crisis.
Bilbainas Bought
Codorníu group acquires Bodegas Bilbainas, a Rioja estate dating back to 1859. Codorníu Napa begins $10 million conversion, crushes first still wines that will carry the Artesa label.
Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in car crash.
Pathfinder lands on the surface of Mars.
Civil jury finds O.J. Simpson liable in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Codorníu Napa Opens
Two years and $30 million after construction begins, Codorníu Napa opens as a méthode champenoise facility in the Carneros region of the Napa Valley.
First Gulf War begins, ends.
Soviet Union collapses.
Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins star in The Silence of the Lambs.
National Monument
King Juan Carlos I of Spain declares the Codorníu Cellars a national historic and artistic monument.
Jimmy Carter defeats Gerald Ford to become president.
Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai die.
Alex Haley publishes Roots.
Bach Acquired
The Codorníu group purchases the historic Masia Bach manor and winery in the Penedès region.
Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese.
Phnom Penh falls to the Khmer Rouge.
Jack Nicholson stars in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Rondel Founded
Don Manuel Pagés Raventós founds Rondel Cellars in the Penedès at Cervelló, creating a second cava house.
Peking, then all of China, falls to Communist forces.
George Orwell publishes 1984.
The Soviet Union develops its own atomic bomb.
Raimat Bought
Don Manuel Raventós Doménech buys the Raimat estate near Lérida in the Costers del Segre region. There is a medieval castle on the property, but the land is thought to be worthless. With water brought by aqueduct from the Pyrenees, Raimat is slowly transformed into the largest winery estate in Europe.
James Joyce publishes The Dubliners.
Margaret Sanger coins the term “birth control.”
World War I begins when Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo.
King Visits
King Alfonso XIII of Spain visits the Codorníu Cellars. Codorníu was decreed exclusive supplier to the Spanish royal family in 1897.
Puccini's Madame Butterfly opens at La Scala in Milan.
Panama Canal Zone is ceded to the U.S.
Teddy Roosevelt is elected president.
Poster Art
Codorníu holds a poster competition for the foremost Spanish artists of the era. Posters were the primary medium for display advertising at the turn of the century.
The Spanish-American War is fought.
The Curies “discover” radioactivity.
Frank Lloyd Wright begins the River Forest Golf Club in Illinois.
Cellars Begun
Work begins in Sant Sadurní on the present-day Codorníu Cellars, designed by renowned architect Josep Puig I Cadafalch and finished in 1915. The cellars expand to the world's largest, with five subterranean levels extending 16 miles.
Lenin joins the Russian Social-Democratic party and is exiled to Siberia.
Stephen Crane publishes The Red Badge of Courage.
H.G. Wells publishes The Time Machine.
Cava Created
Josep Raventós makes the world's first méthode champenoise sparkling wines outside of Champagne, revolutionizing Spain's wine industry. He changes his winery's name back to Codorníu. The new bubbly is called “cava” after the caves in which they are stored for development.
Whistler paints his mother's portrait.
British Columbia becomes a Canadian province.
Ulysses S. Grant is re-elected U.S. president.
Name Changes
Anna de Codorníu inherits the family winery and changes its name by marrying Miguel Raventós. The name change lasts for over two centuries.
Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England, dies and is succeeded by his son.
Puritan missionary John Eliot translates the Bible into the language of Massachusetts's Algonquin Indians.
Earliest Record
The Codorníu family begins making wine in the mid-16th century at Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, in the Penedès region of Spain, just west of Barcelona. The earliest historical record is a will, written by Jaume Codorníu in 1551, bequeathing wine cellars, presses, barrels and vats to his heirs.
Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII as king of England.
Michelangelo sculpts his last work, Rondanini Pietà.
Ottoman Turks take Tripoli.